The Cricket Shepparton Higher-grade T20 preliminary finals have arrived with two cracking matches set to highlight Thursday’s sport.
Waaia will play powerhouse Central Park-St Brendan’s after the Bombers defeated Old Students by eight wickets in the semi-final.
After Students won the toss and elected to bat the Bombers did well to restrict their opponents to a score of 4-131.
All-rounder Liam Evans led the Bombers with bat and ball as he finished with figures of 2-16 from his four overs, while he made light work of the Students’ bowling attack with an imposing 63 not out from 29 balls, including five fours and five sixes.
Thursday’s match between the Bombers (first on the Haisman Shield ladder) and Tigers (third) is sure to be a must-watch spectacle, as the winner of this match will go into the grand final as clear favourites.
In the other preliminary final clash, Kyabram will host Numurkah after the Blues defeated Mooroopna by 28 runs in their semi-final.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, Numurkah set a respectable score of 5-169 after its 20 overs.
The Blues’ innings was led by opening pair James Du Toit (40 runs off 34 balls) and Raguvaran Aravinthan (64 off 31).
Numurkah was then able to restrict Mooroopna to 9-141 from its 20 overs thanks to the bowling efforts of Riley Dawson (2-30) and Aravinthan (1-15 from four overs).
Today’s match between Kyabram and Numurkah promises to be tight, with the Redbacks sitting sixth on the Haisman Shield ladder, one spot below the Blues.
The winner of these two preliminary finals will square off in the Apprenticeship Factory Higher-grade T20 final on Thursday, February 22.
In last week’s Lower-grade semi-final, Karramomus thrashed Invergordon by 10 wickets to advance to the grand final.
The Bloods were set a total of 149 to chase before opening batter Travis Guppy blitzed the Hawks’ bowling.
Guppy finished 119 not out from 47 balls (eight fours and 13 sixes) as the Bloods reached the required total in 13.3 overs.
Karramomus will play Old Students in the grand final at Kialla Park Reserve on February 22.